He smote also all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength.
Ver. 36. He smote also all the firstborn] This he did last of all, the next spring after the first plague inflicted, et non nisi coactus, as that emperor once said when he subscribed a writ for execution of a certain malefactor.
The chief of all their strength] Et ubi non erat primogenitus, moritur epitropus, say the Hebrews, where was not a firstborn, there the steward died; so that there was no house in Egypt without a dead corpse, as there are few among us without many dead souls.